Huawei on Friday presented its own operating system (OS) Harmony in China. It will initially be used in Huawei smart TVs, which will be available before the end of 2019. Over the next three years, Harmony will be gradually introduced into other Huawei smart devices (including wearables), the Huawei Vision smartphone and car multimedia centers. This is stated in a message from the Chinese corporation.

In May, it became known that Google would no longer supply software, hardware and technical support to Huawei, which was blacklisted by the US government. The Chinese manufacturer will only have access to open-source products: it will be able to install the public version of the Android OS on smartphones, but services not developed by the company like Gmail, Google Maps, YouTube, etc. Operating system updates will also not be available to it. But we were talking only about new Huawei users. Those who managed to buy smartphones before the announcement will be able to download applications and install software updates.

Huawei will continue to use Android OS on its smartphones, but can, if necessary, switch devices to Harmony “in just one or two days,” assured Richard Yu, executive director of Huawei Consumer Business Group (quoted by The Wall Street Journal). The Chinese corporation recognizes that Harmony's success will depend on the development of the application ecosystem and the involvement of third-party developers. To achieve this, Huawei will make Harmony an open source platform.

In my own way
The Korean corporation Samsung, which competes with Huawei, also has its own OS. To reduce dependence on Google, Samsung developed Tizen OS based on open source Linux....
Read in full

In my own way

The Korean corporation Samsung, which competes with Huawei, also has its own OS. To reduce its dependence on Google, Samsung developed Tizen OS based on open source Linux. It can work in smartphones, tablets, laptops, personal computers and Internet of Things devices. In 2015, Samsung released the first Tizen smartphone. But this system has not become widespread in the mobile market and is now more used in the Internet of Things.

Harmony (formerly known as Hongmeng OS) was developed for several years, and before the sanctions it was considered as an OS for speakers, wearable devices, cars and other gadgets of the vendor, says Pavel Vyukov, director of the Mobile Communications Department at Marvel Distribution. Judging by the statements made, the manufacturer has no plans to install this OS on its smartphones in the next couple of years. Perhaps the system needs improvement, or the vendor does not want to complicate relations with Google, but wants to demonstrate its potential, Vyukov argues. The announcement is intended to strengthen Huawei’s negotiating position, agrees the head of Content Review, Sergei Polovnikov. He is confident in the future of the OS: Huawei sells about 200 million smartphones worldwide, and this market may be of interest to application developers. The success of devices with Harmony in Russia depends on whether it will be possible to agree with Google so that YouTube, Gmail and other Google services can be installed on it.

The prospects for devices with Harmony on the global and Russian markets are questionable, says leading Fintech Lab analyst Sergei Vilyanov. Developers are not ready to spend time and money on improving and supporting software for small platforms, he says. Harmony is now an industrial OS that can be suitable, for example, for televisions, but not smartphones, says former Euroset CEO Alexander Malis. For it to fully work on smartphones, it needs to be enriched with Android applications (this will require minimal adaptation), and most importantly, the interface needs to be improved, Malis notes: “Right now it’s weak.”

experiments Microsoft's with Windows Mobile show that the risks are high: the existing OS (Android and iOS from Apple) have developed a serious ecosystem of applications, services and related products, have invested in security, and it will not be easy for a third player to take a place in the market, Vyukov sums up.

In my own way The Korean corporation Samsung, which competes with Huawei, also has its own OS. To reduce dependence on Google, Samsung developed Tizen OS based on open source Linux.... Read in full

In my own way
The Korean corporation Samsung, which competes with Huawei, also has its own OS. To reduce dependence on Google, Samsung developed Tizen OS based on open source Linux....
Read in full

Huawei introduced its own operating system